When the Lauderdale County FFA String Band from Alabama stepped under the bright lights of the National FFA Talent stage, they brought five and a half years of friendship, countless hours of practice, and small town grit.
Made up of seniors Titus Norton and Connor McMains, along with sophomore Ty McMains, the group represents not only their Rogersville school but also the heart of the FFA experience. What began as kids learning music in the ag shop has now grown into a national championship story that will be told around their community for years.
Before the national stage, the boys were simply FFA members trying different events and following their teacher’s nudges. Norton laughs when explaining his background:
“I’m a senior, and my history with FFA is just doing string band, pretty much,” he said, before adding, I’ve done a bunch of other stuff, land judging, cattle judging.”
Connor McMains shares a similar path, with the same laid-back honesty. “I’m also a senior … the string band, and I’ve done some land judging and some, some cattle judging. And we cut grass, so that’s our big thing.”
That grass-cutting business has turned into a full landscaping SAE for the McMains brothers — a hustle common in rural southern communities.
The youngest of the group, Ty McMains, is new to FFA but already stepping up. “I’m in a 10th grade, and I ain’t got much history in ag or nothing. But next week, we’re talking about putting me on a cattle judging team, so I’m excited about that.”
Their differing experiences in FFA mirror their different personalities — a combination their advisor, Ivy Harbin, says is exactly what makes them work so well together.
The band came together from a small idea that continued to develop over time. Harbin remembers well the phone call she received when she first took the job.
“Connor’s parents called me, and they had kind of had an architecture that was a little stagnant. Hadn’t done anything in a long time,” Harbin said. “And when I got the job, they called me and they said, ‘We want to have a string band.’ And I was like, ‘All right, we’ll do it.’ “
From there, everything fell into place.
“Our ag teacher, Miss Hobbin, kind of recruited us in about me and Connor’s eighth grade year, Ty’s sixth grade year,” Norton explained. “We’ve been playing ever since then.”
While the boys tease each other about not having musical families, and the truth is they all found their instruments somewhat naturally. Norton had no musical background at all; he simply heard something that spoke to him.
“I was just kind of listening to the radio … and I told my dad I wanted to learn to play the banjo,” he said, “and he got me one, and we just kind of been playing ever since.”
The result is a band that plays with skill far beyond their age — though, as Harbin notes, they tend to downplay just how technical their arrangements are.
“They do a lot of technical, advanced stuff in their music, then they let on,” she said. “To be in the 10th grade, it’s pretty impressive.”
Preparing for nationals meant selecting songs that were familiar, polished, and meaningful. The group didn’t reinvent themselves for competition — they leaned into who they already were.
“We really just took … the songs that we thought we were most confident in,” Connor McMains said. “It’s just kind of songs we’ve been playing for a long time.”
Their winning set included:
- Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Old Home Place by J.D. Crowe
- Tennessee by The Creekers
“Old Home Place, we’ve played that for a long time, so that was kind of a no brainer,” Norton explained. “Simple Man, we wanted our redemption, because we didn’t really do as good last year on state.”
“Tennessee,” meanwhile, was chosen because it was gaining popularity among FFA members nationwide — a nod to the cultural connection talent acts often share with their audience.
But their arrangement of Tennessee became its own story.
“We was just sitting there playing it. And Titus, he had a wild hair… and then he wanted me to do going down, down to the F chord … Connor wanted me to go G run at the end … then Titus was wanting me to know if I did a longer G run. So I did something I thought was pretty cool.”
Despite their success on the national stage, the band didn’t earn its national stage spot through the usual route.
“We just kind of had some technical difficulties at state,” Norton explained. “We kind of let that get under our skin a little too much.”
Harbin fills in the details: They advanced as an at-large act, not as the Alabama state winner. Even so, four Alabama acts made the national top 10, and two made the top three.
“That is so cool,” Harbin said. “That’s something to be proud of.”
By the time they reached nationals, nerves were high — especially in the moments before performing.
“Backstage is always very nerve-racking,” Connor McMains said. “Just sitting back there thinking about it … what you hope to do right, what could go wrong.”
But once onstage?
“Once we got out there … all that just kind of goes away, and you just start playing,” he said.
The announcement of their win felt surreal — they were excited and shocked.
While most FFA events involve crops, cattle, or classrooms, the talent competition brings something different — something the band believes is just as important.
“You gotta like the people you’re around. Man, I love these two fellas,” Connor McMains said. “Just good community … some diversity … some music and singing and some other stuff that people like to do.”
Both Norton and Connor McMains are seniors, and the future is wide open. While Norton comes from a farming background and already works in trucking logistics for a grain-hauling business, he isn’t ruling out a musical future.
“It just really depends on where this goes,” he said. “If something really takes off with this music. I’ll probably stand to put [college] off a few years.”
The group’s message for future FFA performers is heartfelt and humble.
“Be confident in yourself,” Connor McMains said. “Everybody’s got a chance. Just because you’re denied something right now, that doesn’t mean no. It just means not right now.”
Their story is living proof. The band has been invited to open next year’s National FFA Convention and serve as guest judges for the next talent competition.
Harbin remembers the moment she sensed something big was coming.
“National FFA come and ask if they would open this next year session before they had won,” she said. “I was like, I’m feeling good about this.”
Heidi Crnkovic, is the Associate Editor for AGDAILY. She is a New Mexico native with deep-seated roots in the Southwest and a passion for all things agriculture.
